M is for Mimi

This week's assignment is the letter M.

I thought long and hard about the letter M but really there was no other choice for me.

My Mom's name is Marilyn and we call her Mimi. There is really nothing my Mom cannot do. At 69 she can still kick her leg up over her head - just for fun.

Mimi is the youngest of nine, born in the deep south to a very poor family. She grew up knowing what being poor meant. She met and married my father in 3 months - gasp, we still aren't sure it will last - it has only been 47 years. They are such a cute couple, still very much in love. Mimi has 9 children and 7 in-laws. The in-laws all fight to be her favorite. I know that my husband loves her as much as he loves his own mom and the same can be said of the others. She certainly doesn't live up to the "mean mother-in-law" image.

 
Mimi is grandmother to 39 and they all adore her. (and soon to be 4 great grandchildren).  She isn't your normal grandma, she loves her grandchildren but she isn't a doter or a gift buyer. She doesn't normally come to ball games or programs at school. BUT she dresses up on Halloween and is willing to be silly when the occasion is merited. Most Sundays some or all of her children and grandchildren stop by and hang out. There is just something comforting about being at Mimi's.

Mimi is elegant - classy - she always looks beautiful. You would never catch her at the store without makeup or her hair done. She is always the best dressed woman in the room. I wish I had more pictures of her but she really hates to have her picture taken.

Mimi can take a refrigerator apart, fix it, and put it back together. No one ever showed her how, she just can. She is an expert thrift store shopper. If you walked into her home you would honestly think you walked into a magazine page. But more than half of the stuff she has was thrifted. She isn't afraid to paint something, to change the function of an item. She taught herself to upholster furniture and to wire a chandelier. We tease her because she is always painting a room - in one 3 month period she changed her living room  six times until she liked how it looked. (huge huge room).

Mimi came and stayed with me at the Ronald McDonald House when my baby Luke was in the hospital. She was there for a month. I know what a sacrifice this was - and I will always be eternally grateful. She did the same when her great grandson was also in the hospital staying days at a time with my niece. She was there when both babies died. Not an easy thing to do but she was a rock we could count on.  She has lost a child, a grandchild, a great grandchild, 7 brothers and sisters, 9 in-laws, and many nieces and nephews (I think 10). She is no stranger to suffering.

There are so many lessons I have learned from my mom, it is my prayer that I will grow up to be like her one day.
Please go check all the other students in Mrs. Matlock's class for other Marvey-lous essays.